Swords vs Shields Out (Dec 05 2025)

With my new computer I did some testing for the new game, which I’ve named Swords vs Shields. There were fixes needed (both for players and spectators), but I think it should be working now. I didn’t get to test it much if the online connection isn’t very strong, but I’m hopeful. The one thing I failed to figure out is if both players draw from the same deck at the same time. What would happen is, since they do it at the same time, the players end up drawing the exact same cards. I didn’t find a solution, so I just fell back to, both players have their own decks, each with 1 copy of the 40 cards in the game (since it’s an online game I can get away with doing something like that). And with that, the game is now released.

There are 2 other things I meant to talk about last week in regards to making cards, but forgot. The first is what abilities should use swords, and what abilities should use shields. My original plan was that Defend and Attack abilities can use either swords or shields, and that would lead to some interesting choices. Do you spend all your shields and swords to attack or to heal, or some mix? Having a mix would also allow different cards to feel more distinct from another. 

But I decided not to do that too much. I didn’t want to have 2 resources that had no real identity, it just sounded more confusing than it’s worth. Splitting up when the resources are used gives them much clearer identities: shields defend, swords attack. I also didn’t want to risk it where the best thing to do is to always use your swords and shields on only defending, or only attacking. In the end, while I have a few Defend abilities that use swords, most of them end up using shields, and vice versa.

The other thing is about complexity. For many reasons, cards want to be as simple as possible. A card with 2 abilities to read is obviously more complex than a card with just 1 ability. Since cards with 2 abilities are forced (Play abilities have to go along with a Defend or Attack), the best I can do is to make both sides as simple as possible. And ideally the abilities have some connection (maybe by the card name) to make it easier to keep in your head. Usually that means wordier and complicated abilities have to be on cards with 1 ability instead. I think it mostly worked out, and besides games like Moon Colony Bloodbath have this issue too (a lot of buildings in that game have 2 abilities).

Finally, I think it may be a while before I make another online card game. The main issue to me is that they’re not as playable for new people. An action game like Relentless Waves can be played by yourself, the few rules it has can be presented in the game, it’s quick to play, and has little to translate. An online card game like Swords vs Shields requires a 2nd person to play with, has a lot of rules (to the point where the rulebook is external), it takes longer to finish playing a game, and there’s much more to translate. This all just screams, make single player action games and take a break from online card games for a while. Swords vs Shields can remain the capstone for everything I’ve learned from making online card games for 2023-2025.

Speaking of action games, I made a small update to All Shapes and Sizes. One thing that felt stupid was that you could get 2 gravity inverters in a row, and they would do nothing but waste time. I changed the game so if it would give a 2nd gravity inverter, it would just skip it. Another thing I tried out was saving a shape for later. My hope was that it would let you be strategic, but in practice I didn’t have fun with it. The best thing to do is save bombs for when you get a wall. Maybe there’s a way to make it fun, but I didn’t end up adding this new feature.